Attention!!! Pro Sports Daily will be down on Wednesday morning from 5:00am - 7:00am eastern time for database maintenance. All Sports Direct Inc. properties will be down during this scheduled outage.
Sorry for any inconvenience that this outage may cause.

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Gillis: More moves are unlikely, this team is good enough to win

VANCOUVER -- When the Vancouver Canucks signed forward Marco Sturm on the first day of NHL free agency many people believed it was just the appetizer.

The main course, the impact player that would mend some of the tears shown during the Canucks' Stanley Cup loss, would be added during the summer.

With training camp just over two weeks away Vancouver general manager Mike Gillis doesn't see any major trades or signings on the horizon. He believes the team that lost Game 7 to the Boston Bruins has the talent and desire to win the Stanley Cup this season.

"We think we have a really strong team," Gillis said Thursday. "We don't really see a tremendous weakness.

"Of course there are certain players that you would love to have that are on other teams and (you) think they would fit in well here. They are impossible to get at this point. We are really confident in the group we have."

Gillis remains open to any deals that might come along.

"If something comes our way between now and the start of the season we are going to act upon it," he said. "You can't manufacture it.

"It's either there or not there."

Boston pushed Vancouver around in the final. The Bruins were the school yard bully while the Canucks were the A student having their lunch money robbed.

Gillis isn't prone to rash moves. He's analytical in his approach to making his team better, whether it's finding the right third-line centre or hiring a sleep doctor to determine the best travel arrangements.

That's why Gillis dismisses suggestions the Canucks need more grit in their lineup. Maybe a big, powerful forward that can bring a physical presence.

"We played the best teams in the league through the playoffs," said Gillis, who was named the NHL's top executive last season. "No one suggested we needed to have a different look.

"We got into a series with Boston. You can debate as long as you want. They were the better team. We had a lot of injuries and were unable to respond to certain situations."

Speed and skill are the foundation the Canucks are built on. Gillis doesn't plan on changing that.

"You don't build a hockey team to face one issue and think once you surmount it you are going to win," he said. "You have to have a complete balance in a lot of different ways.

"We are confident in our skill and toughness is there."

The Canucks signed Sturm to a one-year, US$2.25 million deal. The 32-year-old forward is a former 20-goal scorer who has undergone two major knee operations.

History isn't on the Canucks side when it comes to returning to the Stanley Cup final.

The last two teams to play in back-to-back finals were Pittsburgh and Detroit in 2008 and 2009.

Prior to that the last team to play for the Cup two years in a row was the New Jersey Devils in 2000 (beat Dallas) and 2001 (lost to Colorado).

The last Canadian team to play for consecutive Cups was the Edmonton Oilers who won in 1987 and 1988.

There are lessons to be learned, said Gillis.

"We've looked back at teams, especially Canadian teams," he said. "There have been things that occurred that we have tried to avoid and things we have tried to follow.

"For our team we have set it up so there is real consistency."

The Canucks have managed to keep their core players in tact. They lost high-scoring defenceman Christian Ehrhoff and rugged forward Raffi Torres to free-agency.

"We haven't lost many players," Gillis said. "We have tried to create more competition on our third and fourth lines.

"We still maintain the depth we had last year on forward, defence and goaltending. I think as we move along to training camp . . . we will have a couple of unique things we are going to try and do. We think we have a strong group and we think we are determined."

The Canucks will start the season without a couple key players.

Selke trophy-winning forward Ryan Kesler had hip surgery over the summer and is expected to miss training camp.

"Ryan is hopeful to be ready for the start of the season," Gillis said. "We'll see."

Speedy forward Mason Raymond is still recovering from a vertebrae compression fracture suffered in Game 6 against Boston.

Raymond didn't require surgery but isn't expected to return until sometime in November.

"I saw him two weeks ago," said Gillis. "He said he was feeling great. He was eager to do more stuff but the medical guys are holding him back a little bit."

Defenceman Dan Hamhuis and forward Mikael Samuelsson both had surgery but are expected at training camp.

Last year's journey to the final was a huge learning curve for both players and management. Gillis said those lessons can be applied this season.

"We learned different things every series, different ways to approach things," he said. Things like "being able to remain calm and think through issues.

"Hopefully, when we get back there, we will have that experience and we'll be able to utilize it."

Seems to me they talked about staying calm and thinking through issues last year too. Maybe you just don't have the talent Mike. I really don't see how he can believe he does with the holes this team has.

This is the situation where great GMs distinguish themselves by knowing how to make a very good team into a great team. We're stalled at the very good team level ...

"When you have limitations and you understand your limitations and you stay within yourself, you can be great," Kobe Bryant said. "You know what you can do and what you can't do. In America, it's a big problem for us because we're not teaching players how to play all-around basketball. That's why you have Pau and Marc [Gasol], and that's the reason why 90 percent of the Spurs' roster is European players, because they have more skill."

Gillis contradicts himself a little bit here - "Of course there are certain players that you would love to have that are on other teams and (you) think they would fit in well here. They are impossible to get at this point. We are really confident in the group we have."

If he was so confident in this group, he wouldn't be wishing he could get other players.

I don't think this year's team is as good as last year's team, they've lost some key players, and they'll be starting the season with several injuries. Too bad Gillis couldn't pull off a big signing in the off-season.

He has done NO major moves (other than signing hamhius and i give him no credit for that everyone knows hamhius is a BC boy and wanted to go to VAN). Oh Im sorry, Gillis did make another significant move, TRADING AWAY GRABNER. You think we could have used him on the 2nd line in the playoffs? But somehow...

He has done NO major moves (other than signing hamhius and i give him no credit for that everyone knows hamhius is a BC boy and wanted to go to VAN). Oh Im sorry, Gillis did make another significant move, TRADING AWAY GRABNER. You think we could have used him on the 2nd line in the playoffs? But somehow...

Gillis: "this team is good enough"

He's done a great job balancing out the team and providing a supporting cast, but I agree, he needs to suck it up and make a big move. He really hasn't done that and his tentativeness may just waste an extremely good group of players.

"When you have limitations and you understand your limitations and you stay within yourself, you can be great," Kobe Bryant said. "You know what you can do and what you can't do. In America, it's a big problem for us because we're not teaching players how to play all-around basketball. That's why you have Pau and Marc [Gasol], and that's the reason why 90 percent of the Spurs' roster is European players, because they have more skill."

We need to make a move I just don't see who though. I thought we missed an opportunity with Carter. We need some toughness around kesler but top notch. A Dustin brown type. Not easy to find but that's what I feel they are missing. I'm willing to move hodgson. I think he will be good bug I want to win now.